


Home is Where the Heart (and Kitchen) is

by musictomydamagedears



Category: Buzzfeed: Worth It (Web Series)
Genre: Alcohol, Break Up, Christmas, Cuddles, Drinking, Family, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Lots of Cuddling, M/M, Mama Lim loves Andrew, Mentions of accidental underage drinking, Mutual Pining, Sexual Confusion, Slow Burn, Sorry Not Sorry, We all need some christmas in may, a bit angst, mentions of anxiety and depression, their irl gfs don't exist
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-11
Updated: 2018-05-22
Packaged: 2019-05-05 08:56:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 17,605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14614638
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/musictomydamagedears/pseuds/musictomydamagedears
Summary: After breaking up with his longterm girlfriend, Andrew's plans for Christmas is sitting at home alone and getting drunk. Steven, however, has other plans for him. That's how Andrew found himself in Ohio during Christmas break, slowly but surely falling in love with mama Lim's cooking. (And maybe falling in love with some other things too, like Steven Lim.)





	1. Andrew I

**Author's Note:**

> Based off of this prompt by @mayanangel on Tumblr: okay, but where’s the standrew fic where andrew spends christmas with the lims and becomes mama lim’s biggest fan because of her awesome cooking? like just straight up shadows her all around the kitchen and admiring her instead of mingling around with steven’s family members. it would be the most adorable thing to steven, and like… he isn’t even sure if he really does have feelings for andrew ilnyckyj or not, but goshdamn his mom has already approved.

“Andrew!” Steven popped up behind him as he walked, and Andrew turned around with a flat expression. Ever since Steven found out about his break up, he had tried to get Andrew to do all sorts of crazy stuff, and Andrew was honestly quite tired of it.

“What?” he asked, his voice as flat as his expression. Steven’s grin didn’t falter, though, and he slung an arm around his shoulder and started walking with him.

“What are you doing for Christmas?” his overly excitable friend asked, and Andrew shrugged.

“Christmas? Probably sit at home alone and get drunk.”

“No, you’re not! You’re coming with me to Ohio! I’ve already talked to my mum about it, and she totally wants you to be there!” Steven exclaimed, the grin widening ever so slightly. Andrew bit his lip. Spending Christmas with the Lims?

“I know how important Christmas is for you and your family, I don’t want to intrude,” he muttered, although even he knew that it was a dumb excuse. “I’ll be fine by myself.”

“My family wants you there! It’ll be fun! Plus, I’ve already bought you a plane ticket!”

“Of course you have,” Andrew rolled his eyes. “Fine. When are we leaving, and how long are we staying?”

“We’re leaving on the 21st, that’s the day after tomorrow, and we’re staying for a week,” the genuine happiness and excitement in Steven’s voice managed to make Andrew a bit more optimistic, even though he really would rather stay at home and get drunk this Christmas.

The two days before leaving for Ohio went fast, and Andrew had just managed to finish packing his bag when Steven knocked on his door to pick him up on the way to the airport.

“Ready for Ohio?” Steven greeted him with a grin, and Andrew raised his eyebrows.

“Steven. It’s Ohio, it isn’t the most exotic place on earth. What the fuck do I need to be ready for?” he asked him, stepping outside and locking the door.

“Having fun with me and my family, if we’re lucky we’ll have some snow, and just a a lot of mama Lim’s excellent food!”

“You got me at food,” Andrew admitted, smiling at his best friend. Steven took Andrew’s bag and carried it to the car, much to the shorter man’s surprise. “Thank you.”

“Of course! Now come on, we’re going to Ohio, baby!” Steven grinned, looking over at Andrew who felt like banging his head into a wall. Why did he say yes to this, again? Oh, right. Free food.

The car ride to the airport and the flight itself went surprisingly okay. Steven managed to keep his mouth shut about one third of the flight, which Andrew counted as a win. Once they landed in Cincinnati, Steven told Andrew that his brother was picking them up.

“Alvin arrived here two days ago,” Steven told him while munching on a croissant. “Told me he needed to get away from the house for a bit, and that we shouldn’t need to hire a rental car or spend money on an uber.”

“That’s nice,” Andrew nodded. He took a bite out of his pizza slice and let out a low moan. “God, pizza is so good. Especially when you haven’t eaten all day.”

“You haven’t eaten today?” Steven’s eyes widened. “Andrew! I’m telling mom to make extra for dinner.”

Just as Andrew was about to protest while Steven called her, she picked up the phone. Steven told her that they had landed, that everything was fine, and that she needed to make extra much for dinner because Andrew had just eaten a pizza slice.

“Just one pizza slice?” Andrew heard mama Lim through the phone. “Tell your friend that he needs to eat more!”

“Mom says you need to eat more,” Steven repeated, and Andrew chuckled as he took another bite of his pizza. “Okay, thanks, love you, mom. See you soon.”

After they got their bags and walked into the arrival hall, Steven apparently spotted his brother quite quickly, because he grabbed Andrew’s wrist and sped up towards a man who appeared to be quite similar to Steven in height and body build. Andrew supposed that had to be Alvin.

The two brothers hugged each other, while Andrew just stuck an arm out to greet the person in front of him. “Hey,” Andrew smiled awkwardly. “Nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you too, man! Steven hasn’t been able to shut up about you the past two years, so we’re all happy to have you over,” Alvin shook his hand, and Andrew could have swore that the older man actually winked at him as he let go. He turned towards Steven in surprise, who was blushing faintly.

“Okay, let’s go,” Steven cleared his throat and scratched the back of his head, avoiding Andrew’s gaze. Andrew frowned slightly, but followed the two others outside. As Steven and Alvin kept talking, Andrew looked around to watch the surroundings. The drive from Cincinnati to Mason took about half an hour, and Andrew enjoyed the fact that Steven finally could talk to someone that wasn’t him. The taller man was his best friend, but god, he talked too much.

Just as he was on the verge of falling asleep, Steven tapped his knee. “We’re home!” he exclaimed happily, and Andrew smiled faintly. What would they think of him? He wasn’t as bubbly, energetic or talkative as Steven. Were they expecting that of him? It wasn’t often Andrew got anxious, but he was definitely anxious as they pulled up in front of the Lim house.

Andrew locked eyes with Steven, who seemed to understand, because he carefully squeezed his knee and assured him that it would be fine and that they would like him exactly as he was. This reaction wasn’t one Andrew was too used to having, and he was confused. Why did he even care why Steven’s family thought of him?

They stepped out of the car, got their bags, and then as soon as they stepped inside the house, Steven’s family greeted them. Steven hugged his sister and parents tight, while Andrew just stood there awkwardly. What was he supposed to do? Suddenly, Steven’s mother pulled him into a hug, and he hugged her back a bit stiffly. Did people usually hug strangers? Andrew was pretty sure they didn’t.

“It’s so nice to see you! Steven tells us so much about you,” she said, smiling widely. “I’m happy you want to spend Christmas with us!”

“Nice to meet you too, Mrs. Lim,” Andrew nodded, briefly looking over at Steven. How much did his friend talk about him to his family?

“No Mrs. Lim! Gina or mama Lim for you, dear! You are part of the family now!” she exclaimed, laughing afterwards together with the rest of the family. Apparently after just one sentence, Andrew was now part of their family? They needed a stricter policy on who was family if that was the only criteria.

After Steven’s mum – mama Lim – finally let go of him, his father came over too and told him to call him papa Lim or simply dad. Andrew wasn’t totally sure how to react at all this, as it was quite overwhelming, so he just laughed and nodded wherever it felt appropriate.

After receiving a hug from Tiffany as well, they were ordered to leave their bags in the hallway as they could move them upstairs after dinner. The food was delicious, and Andrew suspected that Steven might had given them some suggestions as to what to make, because this was exactly the kind of food he liked. And no one knew his tastes better than Steven.

“So, Andrew,” Steven looked at him. “The thing is, we have a guest bedroom, and you can stay there tonight and tomorrow. However, when the rest of the family comes over, they’ll need both of our guest rooms, so you’ll have to stay with me. If that’s okay with you?”

“We’ve shared before,” Andrew shrugged, although he wasn’t sure if sharing a room with Steven Lim for a week was the best idea if he actually wanted some decent sleep. “If it’s more convenient for you guys I could stay with Steven all week, but uhm, that’s totally up to you guys.”

Andrew didn’t miss the look Alvin gave him, but he chose to ignore it, praying to god that he wasn’t blushing too much. After a bit of talking and discussing, they decided that Andrew could stay with Steven from the beginning, and Andrew honestly didn’t know whether he was happy or sad that he didn’t get the two first nights to himself.

The rest of the dinner, Andrew kept quiet as he ate the food on his plate. Thank God for Steven asking his mom to make extra food, because there wasn’t anything left after they were finished. Mama and papa Lim cleared the table as the four others stayed to talk.

“Any plans for tomorrow?” Tiffany asked Steven, who grinned with a nod.

“I’m showing Andrew around of course!”

“He forgot to buy us presents,” Alvin said, making Steven blush. Andrew chuckled. Of course Steven would use him as an excuse for having to go out and buy presents for his family.

“Fine with me,” Andrew said. “I need to buy you a present anyway.”

“You haven’t bought me a present?” Steven stared at him, jaw dropping.

“In case you forgot – I don’t like Christmas, and wasn’t planning on celebrating it, so, no. I don’t have a present for you,” Andrew deadpanned, looking over at his friend. He was starting to feel a bit bad about it, but as he was determined not to let Steven see that, he didn’t break character.

“I’ve had your gift ready since, like, September!” he exclaimed, making Andrew chuckle a bit. Steven bought him a gift in September, but forgot his entire family?

“Thanks, I guess,” he told him. “And I’m sorry that I didn’t get you a present yet. I’ll find you one tomorrow, I promise.”

“Did you give Adam one?”

“Wait, what?” was he supposed to give Adam a gift? Had he received one from Adam? Andrew frowned and shook his head.

“Andrew!” the tone of Steven’s voice was somewhere between shocked and disappointed, and Andrew blushed. He muttered something about getting him one too, and giving it to him after Christmas instead.

“So, what about you guys? Do you have any plans?” Andrew asked Steven’s siblings, to take the attention away from the fact that Andrew had bought exactly one present this year, and he wouldn’t even get to give it. He had bought his girlfriend a necklace and tickets to Disney World, but then she had broken up with him soon after. He ended up giving the tickets to Niki, so that she could bring her wife there. The necklace, however, was still in a box in a drawer back in his apartment in LA.

“I’m going to sit at home and watch Netflix,” Tiffany shrugged. “Don’t feel like going out.”

“I’ve been invited to a party with my childhood friends,” Alvin grinned, showing Andrew a picture of 8 young boys. He kept talking about them and how long it had been since they had all been together, and while Andrew really didn’t care, he listened politely. He leant towards Steven just enough to be able to subtly and awkwardly poke him, hoping that Steven could make an excuse so that they could leave the table.

“We haven’t really had a break after that 4 hour flight,” Steven yawned. “So I think we’ll go up to my room with our stuff and just relax by ourselves for a bit. That okay, mum?”

“Do that, my son,” she smiled at them both, and they went to get their bags, carrying them up to Steven’s room.

Steven’s childhood room was actually exactly what Andrew had imagined it to be. Light and airy, but with dark furniture. He placed his bag on the floor, looking around. Steven had a queen size bed, thank god.

“I’ll get you a blanket. Do you want one or two pillows?” Steven asked him, smiling as he too put his bag down. Andrew shrugged.

“I’m fine with one, unless it’s really thin,” he told him, and the other man nodded before disappearing out the door. Andrew sat down on Steven’s bed, enjoying how comfortable it was. Hopefully he and Steven wouldn’t annoy each other so much that they would struggle with sharing.

A couple of minutes later, Steven returned with a blanket and two pillows for him. He slung everything down onto the bed, right next to Andrew. Andrew got up to help him, and shortly after, the bed was all made up.

“Want to watch a movie?” Steven asked him, pulling up his laptop from his backpack. He sat down on his bed, on the right side, Andrew noted.

“Yeah, sure,” he sat down next to him, adjusting the pillows behind him so that he could sit comfortably. “What do you want to watch?”

“Everything but horror,” Steven said, logging into Netflix. Andrew scooted closer, just to be able to see the screen a bit better.

“We should definitely watch a horror movie,” Andrew grinned, looking over at his best friend who shook his head frantically. To be honest, Andrew wasn’t the biggest fan of horror movies either, but it would be fun to see how Steven reacts to them.

“No! I said everything but horror!” the other man exclaimed, hitting him lightly in the shoulder. Andrew laughed, hitting him back.

“You brought me with you to Ohio, the least you can do for me is letting me choose the fucking movie,” Andrew stated.

“Fine, but I’m warning you, I’m not going to be able to sleep tonight.”

“I am, so it’s cool,” he smirked, grabbing the laptop from Steven to find a horror movie they could watch. Steven protested weakly, but gave up pretty soon. Landing on The Conjuring, which Andrew had heard a lot about, he placed the laptop in front of them both and started watching.

Watching a horror movie with Steven Lim was an experience. A very intimate experience, seeing as he was pressed up against Andrew’s side, hiding his face in shoulder every time anything remotely scary happened. Andrew hesitantly wrapped an arm around him, stroking his back in a comforting manner. He would usually never do that to his friends, but he had been the one to force Steven into doing this after all.

Steven wasn’t the only one who was scared either, Andrew was fucking terrified. Not that he would ever admit that to the younger man. He just held Steven tight, trying to convince himself that ghosts weren’t real. This was all fake.

At one point, Steven jumped so bad that he nearly ended up in Andrew’s lap, and the latter had to take a sharp breath. Steven had his head on his chest, and he could smell the other man’s shampoo. It was almost comforting, somehow. He could feel Steven move an arm to place it on his waist. Andrew moved his own arm as well, just slightly further down so that he could rub his thumb against Steven’s lower back.

“You okay?” he muttered, looking down at him. He rested his chin on top of his head, pulling him just a tiny bit closer as Steven shook his head.

“I’m never touching a doll or a music box ever again,” Steven whimpered, tightening his grip on Andrew’s waist. “I hate you so much.”

“Shut up, you love me,” Andrew said, the response almost automatic.

“Not when you force me to watch horror movies!” Steven tilted his head to look up at Andrew, who chuckled and smiled down at him before turning back towards the screen. They actually managed to watch the whole movie, clinging to each other the whole time.

“It’s based on real events, why would they do that? Why can’t they make things up?” Steven whined, as he exited out of the movie. “My turn to find a movie, one that doesn’t give me a heart attack.”

Andrew rolled his eyes when he saw what movie Steven chose for them. “Love Actually? Really? You couldn’t find a more cliché Christmas movie?”

“Shut up and watch. It’s one of my favorites!” Steven said, tilting his head slightly so that he could look at Andrew. Andrew just rolled his eyes at him, smiling slightly.

As it had been a while since the last time he saw Love Actually, Andrew had totally forgotten about most of the movie. Including the scenes where Martin Freeman was playing a body double for sex scenes in movies. Seeing as Steven was still lying halfway on top of him, way closer than most people should, the scenes got a bit too uncomfortable. Fortunately, the other man seemed to think so too, as he retreated back to his side of the bed.

It didn’t take long, however, before Andrew felt a weight on his shoulder. Without even thinking about it, he leant his cheek against the other man’s hair. One of his hands found his way to Steven’s knee, and he let it rest there.

Somehow, they both managed to fall asleep while watching the movie, still holding each other, and Andrew awoke to Steven poking his cheek.

“Dude, we fell asleep, and I just figured you wanted to sleep without hurting your neck,” he motioned to the awkward position Andrew was sitting in, and the latter grimaced as he nodded with a yawn.

They both got out of their clothes, brushed their teeth and then went back to bed. It felt a bit weird, a bit too intimate, doing this with Steven, but it also felt weirdly right.

“Hey, Drew?” Steven muttered, as they were both lying in bed. They were facing each other, but kept a fair distance between them.

“Yeah?” Andrew was half asleep, and his brain was barely registering what was happening.

“You’re my best friend,” the other man said, and Andrew simply smiled at him and told him good night. Of course he was. Steven was his too. That tended to happen after going on trips and spending time with each other.

When he woke up the next day, the two men were lying significantly closer than they had when they went to sleep. Andrew sighed and reached over Steven to grab the other man’s phone so that he could check the time.

Andrew smiled as he noticed Steven’s lock screen, which was a picture of the two of them, both eating ice cream and looking like two hot messes. Probably a screenshot from a deleted scene, Andrew realized. Maybe he should get Steven to send it to him. They looked so happy, even with ice cream dripping down both of their hands, and he could remember both of them slightly panicking about not getting to their next location in time.

“Wha’ are you doing with my phone, Drew?” Steven mumbled tiredly, and Andrew blushed as he told him that he was simply checking the time.

“Oh. What time is it?” the younger man asked, scooting closer to Andrew and burying his face in Andrew’s side. Andrew knew Steven was cuddly in the morning, as he had woken up next to him several times before, but something felt different. His breath caught in his throat as Steven slung an arm around him.

“It’s ‘get the fuck off me’ am,” Andrew deadpanned, not missing the slightly hurt expression on Steven’s face as he drew his arm away and rolled over.

“’m sorry,” Steven said quietly.

“It’s fine. It’s 7:30 am, by the way,” Andrew said, suddenly feeling a bit guilty. Steven hadn’t meant anything by it, and Andrew had been a bitch. As usual. However, he couldn’t exactly tell him to cuddle him again, that would cross a line that was not meant to be crossed.

“I want to sleep in,” Steven told him, making himself more comfortable. “My mum is probably downstairs making breakfast if you want to join her. She loves company in the mornings, so you’re more than welcome to.”

Andrew bit his lip, debating whether he should or not. Eventually, though, he decided that it couldn’t be too bad, and he was indeed hungry. So he went to the bathroom, got dressed, and then went downstairs to Gina.

“Good morning, Mama Lim,” he greeted her.

“Andrew! You sleep well? Steven didn’t keep you up all night I hope?” she asked, and Andrew blushed. He didn’t know why his body felt that the natural response to that was to blush, but apparently it did.

“No, we were both tired after the trip, we fell asleep pretty quick,” Andrew smiled, trying to force away the blush.

“Want breakfast? Eggs and fried rice? Maybe bacon too, if you want?”

“Seriously? Uh, yes! Please, I mean,” Andrew grinned widely as he watched her around the kitchen. He knew that she was cooking wasn’t advanced by any means, but she made it look so easy and fun, Andrew was completely fascinated.

“I wish I could cook like that,” he muttered to himself, hoping that she couldn’t hear. She turned towards him.

“Did you say anything, dear?” Mama Lim smiled at him, and Andrew shook his head.

“Not really, but I was wondering if you guys had any coffee?” he asked, looking around. Not even a minute after asking, a cup of coffee was placed in front of him, and where the fuck did that come from?

He smiled warmly at her before taking a sip, holding back a moan. Coffee early in the morning was probably one of his favorite things ever. While drinking his coffee, he kept watching mama Lim prepare the food for them.

“The others all sleep so late,” Mama Lim told Andrew. “I always eat breakfast alone if I don’t wake them up! So sad.”

“Yeah, that is sad,” Andrew agreed with a chuckle. “I don’t even know why I’m up this early. I usually sleep in, but I feel well rested.”

She hummed a bit and handed him a plate of food, motioning for him to sit down by the table. After he was seated, she sat down opposite of him. They both ate in comfortable silence, Andrew enjoying the food. She really was a great cook, and he told her as much.

“Thank you! Means a lot coming from you, you and Steven taste so much food!” she said happily, and Andrew couldn’t help but smile at her excitement. It was easy to see who Steven got it from.

“We do taste a lot of food, but your food has so far been some of the best food I’ve ever tasted,” he told her honestly. Maybe it wasn’t as fancy as some of the expensive food he had tasted throughout the years, but it tasted so good, and that’s way more important.

“Andrew, I have an important question for you,” she said, and Andrew nodded with a frown. Important question? What? Why? “How is my son? He tells me he’s okay, but he won’t tell me if he isn’t because he thinks I will be more proud if he’s fine.”

To be honest, Andrew was a bit taken aback by the question. How was he supposed to know how Steven was better than his mom? He hesitated, trying to think of what to say.

“I’m not really sure, we don’t talk too much about feelings and emotions,” he admitted. “However, I think his anxiety is kind of acting up again? He’s been closing off more towards our coworkers, and it seems like he isn’t as comfortable as he used to be. Like, even picking seats at lunch seems to be a problem for him, and he’s gotten… I don’t know… clingier? I guess? Not in a bad way, though, I think.

“Maybe it’s stress. He was so stressed before the holidays now, with a bunch of deadlines, and he stresses himself out with coming up with new episodes for worth it. Actually, when I think about it, he even stressed about presents for his coworkers too. Probably why he forgot to buy presents for you guys.”

As Andrew finished up, he was surprised by himself. When did he turn into the person who knew Steven better than his mom? He didn’t even pay too much attention to him normally, and Andrew had been struggling through a break up. How did he even know this stuff?

“I’m so happy my son has you! You care a lot, and he needs that,” mama Lim said. “Thank you for telling me. I worry so much, but he never tells me. I would worry less if he was being honest. But he has such good friend, I don’t need to worry. You make him happy, you know? He told me.”

“I… guessed as much,” Andrew didn’t know what to say. He made Steven happy, great, Steven made him happy too. “He makes me happy too. I don’t know how I would have got through my break up with my girlfriend if it weren’t for him.”

“Oh, you have girlfriend?” she frowned, almost looking a bit surprised. Andrew shook his head.

“Not now,” he told her. “We broke up after her father died. Her mom has Alzheimer’s, and she needed time and space to take care of her mother. I don’t know what the future holds for us, but time will show, I guess.”

“Oh, poor girl. What’s her name?”

“June,” Andrew looked down at his plate, all feeling of hunger slowly disappearing. “June Leona. “

“Well, she is a stupid girl for giving you up,” mama Lim sighed. “You’re quite the… what is the word? Catch?”

“Thank you,” Andrew smiled sadly. “But I know that it was what she had to do, not what she wanted to do. We agreed that it would be for the best, but it was still really hard for me. I honestly didn’t want to tell Steven, because I figured he would make a big fuzz about it – which he did, by the way, but when he found out, he was the only one who managed to get me out of bed.”

“You are good for each other, then,” Steven’s mom eventually concluded. “That makes me so happy. I was afraid that it was kind of one-sided? Because Steven has a big personality, and not everybody likes that. I remember when he was growing up, he became very attached to one person, and that person often didn’t like that. I didn’t think you were like that, but I was afraid.”

“It did kind of start off that way,” Andrew figured that since she was being so honest, then he could be too. It went unsaid that they shouldn’t mention much of this to the subject of the matter. “He was always there, he was clinging onto me, and I was so tired of him, while he thought of me as his best friend. He grew on me, though. Maybe he has a big personality, but so what. At least he’s himself.”

“You’re being honest. I like that,” she told him. “We appreciate honesty in this family, and since you are family now, that’s important.”

“Yeah, thanks for welcoming me as part of the family,” he smiled. “Being here is not as awkward as I thought it would be. I figured that bringing me home for Christmas would give out boyfriends-vibes.”

“No, Steven said that ‘Andrew is just a friend! My bestest friend, mom!’,” she laughed, imitating Steven. “Last time he brought home boyfriend was in May. Didn’t last. No girlfriends last either. Best friends last forever.”

Wait, what? Boyfriend? Steven had a boyfriend seven months ago? How did Andrew not know that? Of course, he wasn’t mad at the other man for not telling him that he was gay – bi? – or anything, but he was surprised.

“Oh, I didn’t even know he had a boyfriend,” Andrew said, not able to hide his surprise. When he thought about it, though, it made sense. Steven never wanted to talk about his relationship status, although often talking about bringing his ‘girlfriend’ to restaurants. Andrew had just figured that it was a hypothetical girlfriend, which he guessed it sort of was, if it were a boyfriend.

“Nice man, he was Korean,” she nodded with a hum. “But Steven wasn’t happy with him. I could see it. Steven gave too much, never got anything back. Energy too!”

“Yeah, I guess Steven’s relationship would have a tendency to play out like that,” Andrew frowned, thinking about his own friendship with him. Was he draining Steven, not being as excited, and never being the one asking if he wanted to hang out? The only reason why he didn’t was because Steven always asked him first.

“I see you thinking, you’re fine. He’s very happy with you, and I’m his mom. I know that. You make him smile and laugh, it’s very nice,” she assured Andrew by placing a hand on his arm. He looked down at where her hand was with a smile.

“Thanks, Mama Lim, I didn’t know I needed to hear that, but I did.”

“Mama Lim always knows,” she told him. They both ate the rest of their breakfast, talking a bit about Steven and Andrew’s plans for the day. She told him a bit about what Steven was like as a kid, and Andrew told her what he was like at work.

It took another two hours before anyone else came downstairs, and Andrew had filled those two hours with watching stupid reality TV with mama Lim. It was nice, and it didn’t feel as weird as he was expecting it to.

“Morning,” Tiffany smiled at them as she passed by them on her way to the kitchen. “Do we have any more food, or do I have to make breakfast for myself?”

“I always tell you, if you want breakfast, you have to get up early! Like Andrew. He was nice and had breakfast with me,” Mama Lim shouted back. Tiffany popped her head out the door to look at them.

“Are you single? If mom likes you, she will want to keep you around,” Tiffany looked at Andrew, who stared at her in surprise.

“Tiffany, don’t steal Steven’s friend, you can get your own puppy,” Alvin told her, walking down the stairs.

“Who has a puppy?” Steven shouted from upstairs, and the entire conversation turned into pure chaos.

Andrew tried keeping up, amused with how this turned out, but he got lost pretty fast. Amazingly, the three siblings actually managed to keep the conversation going, and Andrew was 90% sure that they were talking about him.

“Are they always like this?” Andrew asked mama Lim, who nodded with a laugh, saying that they were crazy. After about 15 minutes of shouting all around each other, Steven came downstairs, and the chaos calmed down.

“If you want to, you can take a shower while I eat, and then we can go buy those presents?” Steven asked Andrew.

“Sure, I don’t know where towels are or anything, though,” he told the other man, who smiled at him and explained to him where he would find them.

“You can borrow my shampoo and stuff if you didn’t bring your own, it’s in my toiletry bag.”

Andrew nodded, walking upstairs to grab some other clothes and both his and Steven’s toiletries. He blushed a bit as he got Steven’s shampoo and shower gel. He was going to smell like Steven, and he wasn’t entirely sure if that was a smell that would suit him too well. Like, he liked the scent of Steven’s shampoo, and he always smelled nice, but it was very different from what Andrew usually used.

After a quick shower and getting dressed, he walked back downstairs to see Steven waiting for him. After saying a quick goodbye to mama Lim, they went out to the car Alvin picked them up in the day before.

As they drove by different places and houses, Steven enthusiastically told Andrew about his childhood memories and stories, happiness shining through all over his face. After a bit of driving, he pulled up into a mall parking lot.

“Okay, so I need gifts for mom, dad, Tiff, Alvin, my aunt and uncle, my cousins and my grandparents. I think that’s it. What about you?” Steven counted the presents on his fingers, sighing softly as he turned towards Andrew.

“You, my parents, my brother and Adam? Maybe my grandparents? By the way, I was thinking that maybe we could fly to New Jersey instead of back to LA? My parents asked me if we wanted to spend New Years with them, I totally forgot to ask you,” Andrew bit his lip, hoping Steven said yes. He didn’t see his family often, and he hadn’t seen them since he and June visited them four months ago.

“We can do that,” Steven nodded. “I would love to meet your family anyway, especially now that you’ve met mine.”

Andrew chuckled at the pure domestic tone of it all. Meeting the parents and spending the holidays together? He didn’t even do that with June when they were together, but doing it with Steven felt so natural.

“I should probably get your parents and siblings something too, shouldn’t I? You know, since I’m spending Christmas with them.”

“Yeah, maybe you should,” Steven nodded. “It’s totally up to you though. They wouldn’t mind if you don’t get them anything, but I know they would appreciate it if you did.”

“I think I will. You know, as a thanks,” Andrew decided, unbuckling his seat belt and getting out of the car. “I don’t know where any of the shops are, so I think I’ll look for your present last.”

“Yeah, sure, that’s fine,” Steven nodded, walking towards the entrance of the mall. They went to get Steven’s present for Tiffany first, at it was simply a gift card at some cosmetic store. Right before Steven was about to go over to the cash register, Andrew held him back.

“I’m thinking, like, cologne? For our brothers? Can’t go bad with that, right?” Andrew looked over at his best friend, slightly tilting his head towards the men’s section. Steven nodded with a grin before heading over.

They spend some time smelling the colognes, trying to find some that they actually liked. Eventually, Andrew found one for his brother, but the taller man seemed to be struggling a bit more. As Steven was struggling to figure out one of the colognes’ spray mechanism, Andrew walked over to him. Of course, that was the exact time that Steven managed to actually use the spray, and it was sprayed directly in Andrew’s face.

“Steven! Oh my God!” Andrew laughed, wrinkling his nose at the scent. It wasn’t exactly the kind of cologne he would go for. “Fucking hell, that is really not a cologne for me.”

“Oh no, I’m so sorry!” Steven said, but he couldn’t stop laughing. “You think Alvin would like it though?”

Come to think of it, Andrew felt like it was exactly the kind of cologne Alvin would like. It didn’t smell bad, by any means, but it didn’t suit Andrew at all. “Yeah, I do, actually. Okay, I really want to find a bathroom to wash this off my face, could you buy this for me, and I’ll pay you back? Please?”

“Just go, I’ll pay,” Steven chuckled. “Again, I’m sorry.”

Andrew had a feeling that he really wasn’t, but he just nodded and handed him the cologne before rushing out. It didn’t take him too long to find a bathroom, and he quickly washed the cologne off his face and neck.

He hurried back to the store to find Steven, relieved that the slightly taller man stood outside waiting for him.

They weren’t finished buying all of their presents until nearly four hours later, when they met outside Starbucks. Andrew had wandered alone to find a gift for Steven, and he was pretty sure he’d found the perfect gift for his best friend.

“So, should we get some real food, or should we just get a muffin and a coffee?” Andrew asked Steven, and by the way Steven grinned at him, he figured that it was probably the latter. After buying a muffin and a coffee each, they sat down by a table.

Andrew took a sip of his drink, a regular cappuccino, and didn’t even think before grabbing a hold of Steven’s drink to taste it. Steven seemed to be on autopilot too, as he did the exact same thing. As they both came to the realization that they weren’t filming, and that they didn’t need to taste each other’s drink, they both started laughing before handing their drinks back to one another.

“Yours is so sweet! What even is that?” Andrew asked, and Steven smiled before taking another sip.

“Ginger Bread latte with whipped cream and cinnamon!” he said happily, and Andrew just looked at him incredulously before biting into his muffin. It wasn’t exactly the best muffin he had tasted, but he was so hungry that he didn’t even care. (Even though he had bought a sandwich while looking for a gift for Steven.)

“Okay, so now it’s what, 2pm? What should we do the rest of the day?”

“Uh, I honestly just want to relax at home, if that’s okay with you? We can play some games, watch a movie, something like that,” Steven said, taking another bite of his own muffin.

“That sounds great, I was afraid you were going to drag me along to this crazy thing,” Andrew sighed in relief. They finished up their muffins and drinks, and then they drove back home. Once at home, mama Lim met them at the door. “Strong boys, you need to help me carry Christmas decorations! I want to decorate the Christmas tree,” she told them.

They both went upstairs with the gifts, then went to find the boxes of Christmas decorations and ornaments. Andrew smiled as he helped them decorate the tree, actually having quite fun. Every now and then, he and Steven bumped into each other, or brushed against each other, and Andrew couldn’t help but wanting more of his touch.

Steven seemed to want it too, as he occasionally brushed against Andrew with his fingers. Andrew could have been imagining it, but it felt a bit like Steven was flirting with him. He probably wasn’t though, it was most likely just Andrew’s brain making assumptions just because he now knew that Steven also liked men. He smiled over at his friend, hanging up a snowflake, when he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket.

With a frown he picked it up, paling as he unlocked it.

**From: June [3:30pm]**   
**Things are settling, and I really miss you. Call me?**


	2. Steven I

Steven had known all along that Andrew would say yes, he wouldn’t have bought him the plane ticket if not. However, he was still pleasantly surprised that Andrew had given in without much of a fight. He wasn’t about to let his best friend sit at home alone during Christmas, not when he knew that he was perfectly welcome to join him to Ohio.

“Hey mom,” he spoke into the phone, sitting at home on his couch. “Andrew said yes, he’s joining us for Christmas.”

“He is? That’s great!” Gina said, the excitement in her voice almost matching up to that of Steven. “You sure he’s not boyfriend? At least boyfriend material?”

“Mom, no,” Steven groaned, pretty sure that he was blushing. “Andrew is just a friend. He’s my bestest friend, I don’t think we could ever be together like that. So please don’t refer to him as my boyfriend, any of you.”

“Oh, well, that’s too bad! Seems like nice man!” she let out a sigh, and Steven recognized it as one of her ‘disappointed’ sighs. “And we don’t have guest room for him after day before Christmas eve, is that a problem?”

“Nah, I think we’ll be fine. We share hotel rooms quite frequently, you know,” Steven told her, thinking about the possibly awkward situation that might occur when Andrew finds out that they have to share a bed. “Maybe buy an air-mattress, though, if he doesn’t want to share a bed with me.”

“Okay, we can do that,” Steven could basically hear her nod through the phone as she spoke, and he chuckled a bit at the mental image.

“Thank you. I love you, mom, and I’ll see you soon, but I have to go,” he told her, feeling a bit sad that the conversation was so short. “Love you, bye.”

“Love you too, my son! Goodbye!”

Steven hung up the phone with a smile, before he realized that he still had a fuck-ton of shit to do before leaving. Fuck-ton. So much that even Steven felt like the only way to describe it was by swearing, which he normally never did.

To be honest, Steven barely managed to finish packing his bag before he had to go pick up Andrew two days later, simply because he had spent almost all of his time up until leaving stressing about and doing work. He hadn’t even made time for Andrew, which was pretty unusual for Steven. Andrew seemed to have noticed too, because Steven did get a text asking him if he was okay.

He sent a quick text to Andrew telling him that he was on his way, before driving over to the said man’s place. It was still a bit surreal, that Andrew was going to come with him to Ohio to celebrate Christmas, but Steven was happy that he was. Andrew probably wasn’t the great at letting people know he cared, but the fact that he agreed to spend Christmas with him without putting on a fight, told Steven more than words ever could.

Andrew looked pretty worn out when he answered the door, and Steven suspected that he hadn’t packed until last moment either. Even though Steven was exhausted too, he still greeted him energetically and with a huge grin.

Well, okay, maybe the grin had more to do with the fact that he was seeing Andrew again than with him trying to be energetic, but Steven wasn’t totally sure. Then, to make up for the lack of enthusiasm in Andrew, he started listing the pros of going to Ohio, of course mentioning his mom’s food. Andrew would probably love his mom, Steven thought to himself.

“I was kind of surprised that you agreed so quickly,” Steven told him as they drove to the airport, and Andrew turned his head slightly towards him to look at him.

“Oh?” the other man made a slight humming sound. “You had bought me a ticket, and flights are expensive. You wouldn’t have done that if you weren’t 100% sure that I would say yes, so I figured that I could spare us both some time and energy by agreeing.”

“Well, I’m happy that you did, because this is going to be awesome,” Steven grinned, and even though he couldn’t see Andrew’s expression, he was pretty sure he rolled his eyes at him. “Come on, Andrew! You smile too little!”

“I do smile sometimes,” Andrew protested, frowning. Steven looked over to see the very prominent frown and started laughing.

“You know, most people would smile after saying that, but you know, if you want to be Grumpy AI, you can be Grumpy AI,” the taller said, still laughing a bit as he spoke. However, Andrew chuckled, so Steven figured that he had said something right.

“No one calls me Grumpy AI, Steven.”

“Not to your face, they don’t,” Steven shot back. “Oh, burnt!”

Andrew just laughed and shook his head, staring out the window again. Steven knew that Andrew wasn’t really listening to him anymore when he started talking about this movie he watched the other day, but he kept on talking to fill the silence. As far as he knew, Andrew didn’t actually mind him speaking, and had figured out how to block him out if he wanted to.

Nothing exciting happened at the airport or the actual flight. Steven talked and Andrew replied every now and then, making the younger of the two just a tiny bit happier. They also slept a bit on the flight.

Once they got off their flight, they decided to buy a snack before grabbing their bags. Steven bought a croissant, while Andrew bought a pizza slice. As Steven took the first bite of his croissant, he realized that he should probably tell Andrew that Alvin was coming to get them.

“My brother is picking us up. Alvin arrived here two days ago,” Steven told him, still kinda eating. “Told me he needed to get away from the house for a bit, and that we shouldn’t need to hire a rental car or spend money on an uber.”

Andrew made a comment about how it was nice, before admitting that that slice of pizza was the only thing he had eaten that day. Steven gaped, and then decided to call his mom so that she could make extra for dinner.

“My son!”

“Hi, mom! We just landed, everything went fine,” Steven smiled. His mom’s voice always brought a smile to his face.

“Oh, that’s good! I should start making dinner, then.”

“Nice! Oh, by the way, make some extra, Andrew hasn’t eaten today. He’s eating a pizza slice now, and that’s it.”

“Just one pizza slice?” his mom let out a disapproving sigh. “Tell your friend that he needs to eat more!”

“Mom says you need to eat more,” Steven repeated, looking over at Andrew, who chuckled as he took another bite of his pizza. He smiled a bit at the scene before focusing on the phone call again. “Okay, thanks, love you, mom. See you soon.”

“Bye, see you soon!”

Steven hung up, an then they went to get their bags. As soon as they both had their bags, they walked into the arrival hall, where Steven spotted Alvin instantly. With a grin, he took a hold of Andrew’s wrist and started walking towards his brother. Right before he would have collided with Alvin, he let go of Andrew and his bag and opened his arms to hug him.

“Long time, no see,” Alvin said, patting his back. Steven nodded with a grin as he let go of his brother, pointing to Andrew.

“So, this is Andrew,” Steven said, smiling a bit. Andrew awkwardly stuck his hand out, telling Alvin that it was nice to meet him.

“Nice to meet you too, man,” Alvin said, looking briefly over at Steven with a slight smirk. “Steven hasn’t been able to shut up about you the past two years, so we’re all happy to have you over.”

At the words that left his brother’s mouth, Steven’s eyes widened and he was pretty sure that he was blushing. Andrew didn’t seem to know how to reply, and Steven couldn’t blame him. When the shorter man turned to face him, Steven cleared his throat.

“Okay, let’s go,” he said, trying to end this before it got too awkward. Once they were seated in the car, Steven in the passenger seat, and Andrew in the back, he noticed that his best friend had already zoned out.

“Bro,” Alvin said in Chinese. Both Steven, Alvin and Tiffany had learned some Chinese throughout the years, and were able to have short conversations. However, the grammar was sometimes off, and they didn’t have the best pronunciation. They did their best, though.

“What?” Steven replied, also in Chinese.

“He is totally your boyfriend,” Alvin smirked, and Steven rolled his eyes.

“He isn’t!” the words came out a bit harsher than intended, making the pronunciation even worse than he felt it already was.

“He will be, then.”

Steven was silent for a bit, then muttered a quick ‘shut up’, even though he knew that it would probably only make matters worse.

“That was not a no,” Alvin pointed out, and Steven groaned. Trying to find the correct words and use somewhat correct grammar, it took a little while for Steven to reply.

“He’s my best friend, nothing else. He doesn’t even know I’m, you know, gay,” even though Andrew wouldn’t be able to understand him, he quieted down during the last part. Alvin’s eyes widened.

“Oh,” he said. “Why not?” this time the words came out in English, and Steven shrugged.

“I don’t know, just, shut up about it, okay?” Steven looked over at his brother with pleading eyes, and when Alvin’s eyes met his own, the older of the two just sighed and nodded. They then talked a bit about what Alvin had been up to, and what he was going to do after Christmas break.

As they were about to pull up in front of the house, Steven noticed that Andrew was almost asleep, so he turned around to tap his knee.

“We’re home!” he exclaimed, happy to finally be able to show Andrew his family and childhood home. Despite the very faint smile on Andrew’s face, Steven knew his friend well enough to know that he was anxious. He gently squeezed Andrew’s knee. “It’ll be fine. They’ll like you no matter what. Having someone quiet in the house will probably be a relief.”

Eventually, Andrew broke their eye contact with a small nod, and they got out of the car. Alvin had taken both of their bags out of the trunk, and so he handed them to their respective owners. Steven smiled at Andrew once more, before opening the door and walking inside. Unsurprisingly, both his parents and his sister were already there, waiting.

“Steven!” Tiffany was the first to hug him, followed shortly after by his parents. Steven grinned widely. He loved being home, and somehow, having Andrew there felt so incredibly right. Even when he had brought Danny home, which he did twice, he had felt a bit weird bringing him home.

He heard his mother telling Andrew to call her mama Lim, and he grinned to himself. It was a bit cute, seeing how well Andrew was received, even though he almost felt guilty that they had never been this welcoming towards Danny. They had liked him and welcomed him, but never really as a part of their family.

They all went into the dining room to eat dinner, where his family spent some time questioning him and Andrew about Worth It. It was nice, Steven realized, eating dinner with his family, with Andrew right there next to him. Andrew seemed to enjoy the food to, which made Steven happy. He had called his mom, telling her about what foods Andrew seemed to enjoy the most, and the fact that he had known made him just a little bit proud.

Fortunately, Andrew didn’t mind sharing a bed with Steven for a week either, so that was no longer a worry. After dinner, Steven and Andrew spoke to Tiff and Alvin about their plans for the next day. It was okay, but Andrew seemed a bit tired, and when he noticed Andrew poke his elbow, he quickly made up an excuse for them to leave.

Once they got upstairs, after putting down their bags, Steven went to find a blanket and a couple of pillows for Andrew. Andrew had said he only needed one, but Steven figured that it would be nice to give him two anyway.

“So, do you wanna watch a movie?” Steven asked eventually, realizing that they would probably have to actually do something as to not get really bored. Andrew shrugged with a ‘sure’, and Steven smiled as he went to get his backpack.

He found his laptop, sitting down on his side of the bed. At least, it used to be his side when he was dating Danny, so it felt the most natural. Andrew followed shortly after, sitting down next to him.

“What do you wanna watch?” Andrew asked, and Steven gave it a quick thought before telling him that he would be fine with everything except for horror movies. Andrew, being the idiot he was, demanded that they see a horror movie, even pulling the guilt card. Even if Steven wasn’t completely convinced that he had forced Andrew to come with him, he eventually agreed.

“Fine, but I’m warning you, I’m not going to be able to sleep tonight,” Steven told him, keeping quiet about the fact that he would probably be clutching to his arm as well. He was a cuddler, and when he was afraid, he wanted to be close to someone. Oh, well, either Andrew would tell him to stop, or he would change the movie.

Of course, Andrew settled on one of the scariest horror movies Steven could think of, and he just embraced himself for the worst. It didn’t take long before Andrew was paying enough attention to the movie for Steven to scoot closer. He hesitantly put his hand on Andrew’s upper arm, positioning himself so that he could barely see the screen, and hide behind the other man if he wanted to.

Watching a horror movie with his whole body pressed into Andrew’s side made his heart beat incredibly fast, and he didn’t know if the biggest reason for that was the jump scares or Andrew himself. No matter what, sitting like that was comforting, and while sitting there with his nose buried in his shirt, Steven decided that he really liked how Andrew smelled.

After a short while, he felt Andrew wrap an arm around him. Steven’s breath got caught in his throat, and his heart beat even faster. Blushing slightly, he hid his face again. However, Andrew must have thought he was scared, because he started to slowly rub his back in a comforting manner, and Steven was sure that he could melt into his embrace.

They laid exactly like that for about twenty minutes, until there was a really bad jump scare, and Steven got so scared that he basically jumped into Andrew’s lap. He would have been embarrassed, if he weren’t terrified out of his fucking mind. So, instead of moving away from him and stuttering out an apology, he made himself comfortable.

That meant that one of his legs were on top of Andrew’s legs, an arm wrapped around the shorter man’s waist, and his head resting on top of his chest. He could hear Andrew’s heart beats, and he could feel his chest rising up and down as he breathed. The arm that had previously been on his upper back had now moved, and Andrew’s thumb was rubbing circles into his lower back.

It didn’t take long before he felt Andrew’s chin on his head, and he noticed that Andrew had pulled him a little closer. Steven drew a shaky breath. When did Andrew start impacting him this much? He hadn’t reacted like this to anyone in what felt like ages.

“You okay?” the slightly older man asked, and Steven shook his head, tightening his grip around Andrew’s waist. Andrew pulled him even closer, and Steven looked briefly at the screen before shutting his eyes again.

“I’m never touching a doll or a music box ever again,” he said, but his words came out more as a whimper. Steven cringed a bit at how weak he sounded, but he was terrified after all. “I hate you so much.”

Andrew’s reply came quickly, as if it was the most natural thing to say in the world.

“Shut up, you love me,” he said, and Steven’s heart stopped beating for just a second. Of course he loved Andrew, he was his best friend, but he never found himself wanting to be this close to anyone else. Did he love Andrew, or did he _love_ Andrew?

“Not when you force me to watch horror movies,” Steven replied, deciding to take on that dilemma later. This was supposed to be a time for joy and happiness, not heartbreak and confusion, and goodness knows that if Steven was in love with Andrew, that would only lead to the latter.

By some sort of miracle, they both survived the movie, and Steven was pretty sure that Andrew had been scared as well, even if he wouldn’t admit it. Deciding that he needed to watch something light-hearted and uplifting, Steven took charge of the computer, and quickly found a movie for them.

Yes, Love Actually was a cliché Christmas movie, as Andrew pointed out. However, it was one of Steven’s favorite movies, and if he wanted to have any chance of falling asleep that night, Steven needed some Colin Firth and Hugh Grant to lighten his mood.

Of course, Steven had totally forgotten about the borderline sex scenes, which proved to be very awkward, as he was basically lying on top of Andrew. If any one of them got even remotely, uh, excited, the other would know. That’s why Steven quickly moved away from him, blushing furiously all the while.

Steven was a cuddler, though, so it didn’t take long before he scooted closer again, just close enough that he would be able to rest his head on his shoulder. He could feel Andrew tense just a bit, before relaxing and leaning his head on top of Steven’s. Steven didn’t know how or when, but eventually, they both fell asleep.

When Steven awoke, his laptop was lying on its side next to Andrew, obviously fallen of his lap, and Steven and Andrew’s legs were all tangled together. Steven also noticed that he had his arms wrapped around his best friend, and he quickly moved away. How had they gotten so close while asleep?

Shaking his head, he checked the time on his phone. Seeing that it was in the middle of the night, he gently poked Andrew’s cheek. If the shorter man were to sleep like that, his neck would definitely hurt in the morning. He managed to wake him up though, and they both went and got ready for bed.

After they had both brushed their teeth, they realized that they probably needed to have a slightly awkward conversation. While shooting worth it, they had both slept in pajamas, but Steven knew that Andrew hadn’t brought any.

“So,” Steven cleared his throat. “I, uh, usually sleep in my underwear.”

“So do I,” Andrew clarified.

“Okay, so, uhm, I think we’ll be fine sleeping like we normally do,” Steven said eventually, and Andrew nodded.

“It’ll just be weird for a couple of minutes. We’re friends, I’ve seen you in your underwear before,” Andrew said casually, making Steven blush. However, he was right. They had spent a lot of time together, including changing clothes.

“Yeah, you’re right, this is silly,” he let out a nervous laugh and got into bed, smiling as Andrew got in next to him. It was a lot less awkward after the blankets covered their bodies, and Steven was pretty sure that he told Andrew that he was his best friend while half asleep.

When Steven woke up the next morning, he could faintly see the outline of his phone in Andrew’s hands. He didn’t really care, Andrew didn’t know his code anyway. However, he would like to know what his best friend was actually doing.

“Wha’ are you doing with my phone, Drew?” he managed to mutter tiredly, barely catching Andrew’s words about checking the time. Subconsciously, he moved closer to Andrew so that he could bury his face in his shoulder again, as he had done while watching the movie last night. He asked him what time it was while wrapping an arm over Andrew’s waist.

“It’s ‘get the fuck off me’ am,” Andrew said flatly, and Steven startled as he moved away from him. Okay, so, Andrew only wanted cuddles while watching horror movies. Noted. Then when Andrew told him that it was 7:30 am, Steven shook his head and told him to go downstairs to his mom, and that he was too tired to get up.

When Andrew eventually did go downstairs, the bed felt weirdly empty without Andrew there. Steven sighed and swapped one of his pillows for one of Andrew’s, enjoying how it faintly smelled like his best friend. He smiled and closed his eyes, falling asleep quickly.

He woke up by what was probably either Alvin or Tiffany slamming the bathroom door in the other’s face, and he yawned as he grabbed his phone. He smiled at the sight of his lock screen. He loved that photo of them. It was probably the first time Steven had almost blurted out ‘I love you’, or some stupid thing like that to Andrew. It had been taken only, what, a month after his breakup with Danny, so he figured that he was just lonely.

When the bathroom was empty, not long after, he grabbed a change of clothes and took a quick shower. Once he got out, he realized that Tiff and Alvin had both gone downstairs.

“- you can get your own puppy,” he could hear Alvin say from downstairs, and Steven’s curiosity perked.

“Who has a puppy?” Steven shouted.

“No one!” Tiffany shouted back, at the same time as Alvin shouted: “You! You have a puppy!”

“But I don’t have a puppy?” he shouted back, confused. However, Alvin’s reply in Chinese made the situation a lot clearer.

“Your boyfriend is like a puppy, Steven,” Alvin replied, and Steven felt like banging his head into the wall.

“I told you!” he shouted in English, before switching over to Chinese, making sure that Andrew wouldn’t understand. “Not my boyfriend!”

“Then can I flirt with him? He’s handsome,” Tiffany shouted, also in Chinese, and Steven groaned.

“No! Of course not!”

“Tiff, they aren’t boyfriends yet, but they will be married someday,” Steven could hear Alvin tell Tiffany in Chinese, and he shouted a weak “Hey!” as a protest.

“Aw, am I invited to the wedding, Steve?” Tiffany shouted in English, and Steven swore that he could have killed her.

“There won’t be a wedding! Shut up!” he said, getting a bit annoyed. “Why are you both worse than when I brought my actual boyfriend?” the last part was shouted in Chinese, as to not out himself just yet. Going between Chinese and English was difficult, and he was pretty sure he butchered some words and definitely the grammar, but he didn’t really care.

“We like teasing you,” Alvin shouted. “And because we know that when you do marry him, you’re going to remember this conversation as a good one.”

“We’re not getting married!” he repeated, hurriedly getting dressed and doing his hair so that he could go downstairs and end this thing. They kept on shouting about it though, Tiffany and Alvin planning his wedding, and Steven protesting. Had it not been for the fact that the previous night had made him confused about his feelings for Andrew, he probably would have found it funny, but now it was just annoying.

That’s why when he got downstairs, he glared at his siblings and told them that it wasn’t funny, and that they should keep out of it. Tiffany muttered something about how she was going to flirt with Andrew if that was the case, and Steven had no idea how to tell her that that wasn’t okay either. Fortunately, Alvin saved him.

“Tiff, leave him alone, this is bothering him. Plus, it’s his first real best friend, don’t ruin it,” he muttered, careful that Andrew and their mom couldn’t hear them. Tiffany sighed and apologized, telling Steven that she was used to teasing him about everything, including the fact that she wanted to flirt with all his friends, and she didn’t realize that this would be different.

“I don’t,” Steven tried to come up with what to say. “I don’t know, okay? I don’t know how I feel about him, or our friendship, I don’t even know if he’s bi or whatever. Please, just drop it. Don’t ruin this for me.”

He sighed and walked out to his mom and Andrew, grinning at them. Andrew looked so at home in his house, and he loved it. Steven suggested that Andrew could shower while he ate, and then afterwards they could go shopping those presents.

On their way to the mall, Andrew had asked Steven whether he would be okay with going to New Jersey instead of going to LA for New Years, spending it with Andrew’s family. Steven had been very surprised, but also incredibly excited. Meeting the Ilnyckyjs? Of course he wanted to do that.

It almost felt a bit weird, though. Steven hadn’t celebrated neither Christmas nor New Years with any of his boyfriends, but he was going to celebrate both with Andrew. As if he hadn’t been confused enough by his feelings before Andrew asked him to celebrate NYE with him.

“We can do that,” he had replied, pretty much too stunned and flustered to say anything else. “I would love to meet your family anyway, especially now that you’ve met mine.”

They had fun at the mall, but walking around forever looking for presents was exhausting, and when Andrew had decided to wander around by himself to look for a present for Steven, said man had basically just been on his phone while waiting for his friend to come back.

Before leaving, they decided to get coffee, and without even noticing it, they had tasted each other’s drinks immediately after taking a sip of their own. It made Steven realize how far their friendship had come from their first episode, where Andrew didn’t want Steven’s food to touch his even before taking a bite. Now they both tasted each other’s food and drinks on autopilot.

As they finished up their drinks, Andrew asked if they had any plans for the rest of the day. When Steven told him that he simply wanted to relax at home, Andrew had been relieved, and Steven was mostly happy that they were on the same page. They quickly finished up their drinks, then drove back home.

At home, it was time to decorate the Christmas tree, and Steven was excited. Decorating the tree had always been one of Steven’s favorite Christmas activities, and to be able to do it with Andrew? That had to be great. Alvin was already gone, and Tiffany didn’t want to, so it was just the two of them decorating.

They didn’t have too much space around the tree, so they constantly bumped into each other, or their arms brushed against each other or whatever. Steven didn’t really know what made him do it, but when they weren’t accidentally touching, he occasionally let his fingers brush against Andrew’s, or put his hand on his upper arm or whatever.

Luckily, his best friend didn’t seem to mind at all, and even leaned into the touch most of the times. There was even a time where Steven was sure that Andrew was about to grab his hand when their fingers brushed against each other, but then Steven had chickened out and removed his hand before he had the chance.

At one point during the decorating, Andrew checked his phone, and he seemed very distracted afterwards. He also seemed a bit withdrawn, careful not to touch Steven by accident, and muttering “don’t” when Steven ran his hand down his arm. It was a bit upsetting, and Steven was curious as to what had happened. That was a pretty big mood change, and Andrew looked pretty sad.

Decorating the tree took them about two hours in total, seeing as they had spent quite a bit just being close to each other instead of actually decorating. When they were finally done, they both went up to Steven’s room.

“You okay, man?” Steven asked him, and Andrew shrugged.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be fine. Can we just watch a movie or something? I need a distraction,” Andrew looked at him, and Steven heart broke just a bit, as he could see the genuine sadness in his best friend’s eyes.

“Want a hug?” Steven blurted out, incredibly surprised as Andrew didn’t reply, but just wrapped his arms around him. It didn’t last long, it wasn’t emotional or anything, but it was a hug that meant something. Exactly what it meant, he didn’t know, but it meant something.

“Your turn to pick a movie,” Steven told him as they let go of one another and laid down on the bed. Seeing that his laptop had shut down, he quickly got up to find the charger, plugging it in and settling back down on the bed.

“You can pick, I don’t know,” Andrew sighed, somehow looking even worse than he had a minute ago. Steven noticed the phone lying face down on Andrew’s chest, and he was really starting to wonder what had made Andrew so upset.

“Sure,” Steven nodded, sighing before deciding that they should watch The Perks of Being a Wallflower, which was one of his go-to movies when feeling down. Due to how Andrew had withdrawn from his touch earlier, he didn’t want to risk them having a nice time by cuddling, so he kept to himself.

However, about fifteen minutes into the movie, Andrew scooted closer to him, just enough to have their shoulders touch. Then, he moved to lie down on his side, laying his head down on Steven’s chest. Steven tried to not read too much into it, seeing as Andrew was probably just seeking comfort. He wasn’t even gay, he didn’t mean this romantically.

Noticing how Andrew’s hand was pretty much resting awkwardly on top of his stomach, he hesitated before moving his own hand to rest right next to his. That way, Andrew could decide whether this was about to suddenly get a lot more intimate. When he felt Andrew’s fingers hesitantly playing with his own, Steven let out a shaky breath before intertwining them, biting the inside of his cheek. Friends didn’t hold hands while watching a movie, right?

When he looked down at Andrew, said man looked a bit flustered, and Steven didn’t know how to read this situation. This was flirting, but Andrew was upset, and Steven suspected that June probably had something to do with it. Andrew was just lonely, and Steven was a good replacement. It was okay.

Except that it really wasn’t.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! I really appreciate all of your comments too! Find me on tumblr @stanningstandrewfics


	3. Andrew II

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaand now I'm straying away from the prompt a bit, but I promise, it'll turn out all right.

Andrew stared at his phone, his heart beating just a bit faster. Why did she do this to him? Why now? He was finally starting to get over her, and he was finally doing okay.

**To: June [3:32pm]**  
**I’m busy. I’ll call you later.**

He put his phone back into his pocket, trying not to think too much about it as they continued decorating the tree. His good mood had been completely killed, though, and the last thing he wanted was for Steven to think they were flirting and complicate things even further. That’s why he shied away from his best friend’s touch, trying to keep a distance between them.

As he got a little lost in his thoughts after hanging an ornament eerily similar to one of June’s, he felt Steven run a hand down his arm.

“Don’t,” he muttered, looking over at him briefly before turning away again and picking up another ornament. Was he treating Steven unfairly? Maybe so. Maybe the younger man didn’t even think of him that way, and that Andrew was over-thinking everything after finding out that he was gay?

It took longer than expected to decorate the tree, and Andrew was quite happy when they were able to go back to Steven’s room to relax. After telling Steven that no, he wasn’t really okay, he received one of the best hugs he had had in a while, and Andrew realized that Steven was his best friend for a reason. He didn’t have to shy away from him, he should be able to confide in him and find comfort in his touch.

“It’s your turn to pick a movie,” Steven murmured quietly into his ear as they slowly let go. Andrew hesitated, moving to lay down on the bed. He watched Steven do the same, before the younger man was moving again to get his charger.

As Steven got his charger, Andrew felt his phone vibrate, and he closed his eyes while fishing it out of his pockets. It was probably June, and he didn’t really want to see. However, his curiosity got the best of him, and he sighed as he read her texts.

**From: June [4:39pm]**  
**Of course. That’s fine! X**

**From: June [4:40pm]**  
**Talk to you later, handsome. Miss you a lot.**

Andrew shut his phone off and put it face-down on his chest, feeling as if someone ripped his heart out through his throat, ripped it apart, and then just left both parts on the ground. Did he still want June? He wasn’t really sure. He then realized that Steven probably waited for him to pick a movie.

“Uh, you can pick. I don’t know,” he sighed, noticing how Steven was looking at his phone every now and then. Steven replied with a simple ‘sure’, settling on The Perks of Being a Wallflower. It was obvious that Steven was putting in an effort to keep to himself, presumably after how Andrew had acted earlier.

However, Andrew was upset and tired, and he wanted to cuddle. He knew Steven wouldn’t mind, and he would understand that their cuddling was platonic, so Andrew moved his phone before moving closer. Once their shoulders were touching, he turned to lay on his side instead, putting his head on Steven’s shoulder/chest, resting his hand on his stomach.

Not too long after he had moved, he could feel a finger brush against his own, and he looked over to see Steven’s hand right next to his. Andrew’s heart started beating faster, as did Steven’s, he noticed, and he weighed his options. He could let their hands keep on touching briefly, he could grab Steven’s hand and risk embarrassing himself, as well as giving Steven false hope.

But again, he was probably overthinking it. Had he not known Steven was gay, would he had minded holding his hand? Probably not. It was probably just his big ego, thinking that Steven was crushing on him. Steven would understand that this wasn’t romantic, that Andrew wasn’t gay, and needed comfort.

Absentmindedly, Andrew had started playing with Steven’s fingers, not noticing it until Steven had fully intertwined their fingers. Andrew blushed, feeling a bit better already. He needed the touch and comfort that only Steven could provide him with, and holding hands just strengthened his feelings of safety and trust.

When they finished the movie, neither moved for a while, just lying there in each other’s embrace. It was nice, and Andrew didn’t want to let go and get back to reality. However, he did realize that he would have to, so he reluctantly let go of him and went back to his own side. Steven looked a bit upset at the loss of his new cuddle buddy, and Andrew almost crawled right back to him, but he had some other shit to figure out.

He checked the time, raising his brows that he realized that it was almost 6:30 pm already. The day had gone by quite fast, and Andrew was almost ready to go to bed again. It was weird to think that this was just his first day here in Ohio, as he had already done quite a lot in one day.

Without knocking, Alvin burst through the door. Steven sighed and Andrew rolled his eyes, both just staring at him. The eldest Lim brother smiled at them.

“My friends cancelled on me, and I’ve bought way too much alcohol to not drink tonight. So, me and Tiff were thinking of watching some Disney movies and getting drunk, if you guys are in?” he looked at them.

“I’m in,” Andrew said immediately, knowing that drinking would perhaps make him forget the mess inside his head. Why did June have to ruin a perfectly good day by texting him? “I need a drink so bad.”

“Uh, sure,” Steven looked over at Andrew with a frown, before nodding. “Now?”

“Yes, now, get up, you lazy fuckers,” he winked at Andrew, and Andrew looked over at Steven. “We’re in Tiffany’s room.”

“Now what is it with your brother and winking at me? It’s weird,” he commented, and Steven let out a groan.

“He’s always been like that, I don’t know, I think my mom dropped him on his head and that he’s now classified as malfunctioned,” Steven shrugged, making Andrew laugh loudly. They walked together into Tiffany’s room, which was the biggest, and sat down on her couch in front of the TV.

“Still unfair that you have a TV here,” Steven muttered, and Tiffany rolled his eyes at him before beating him with a pillow. Apparently Tiffany had some alcohol too, as she went to a mini fridge in the corner of the room and handed Steven a cider. Andrew smiled and accepted a beer from Alvin.

The night got started off by watching Disney movies, and as they got progressively more and more drunk, Steven and Andrew moved closer and closer to each other. After watching both 101 Dalmatians and The Lion King, they were literally sitting on top of each other instead of next to each other. Andrew had forgotten all about June, and the only thing he could think of was his beautiful best friend who was sitting in his lap.

He had his arms around him, his chin resting on his shoulder as they watched the movies. Unable to resist the temptation, he quickly pressed his lips to the crook of Steven’s neck, smiling at the shudders that went through the other man’s body.

“Let’s play truth or dare, come on,” Tiffany grinned, and Steven agreed immediately. Alvin rolled his eyes and asked if they were still children, but agreed nonetheless. Andrew simply shrugged, it could be fun. They were all pretty drunk at that point, especially Steven.

“We need a forfeit, if you don’t want to answer the question or do the dare,” Alvin said, receiving nods from the three others. After a bit of a debate, they decided that the three others could mix a shot with whatever they wanted from the kitchen, and give it to the “wimp”.

“I’ll start,” Tiffany declared. “Alvin, truth or dare?”

“Dare, of course,” Alvin smirked, and Steven rolled his eyes at him. Andrew smiled, before muttering into Steven’s ear that he should probably move before he’d cut off Andrew’s blood to his legs permanently. Steven blushed and moved from his lap, sitting down next to him and resting his head on his shoulder instead.

“I dare you to go downstairs and tell mom that you on purpose gave Steven alcohol when he was 17 without telling him,” Tiffany chuckled, making Steven widen his eyes.

“What?” he looked over at his brother, who was laughing very hard. Alvin nodded and got up before walking downstairs to tell his mom. They all laughed as they heard Gina yell at Alvin in Chinese, and Alvin running upstairs as fast as he could.

“What did she say?” Andrew asked Tiffany, and Tiffany had to dry tears from laughing before replying.

“Let me put it this way; I didn’t know mum knew how to swear in Chinese until now. I only knew half of those words,” she laughed, and Steven laughed as well, admitting that he had only known two of the words she had yelled.

Alvin was completely red in the face as he returned, looking terrified. “Fuck, I had totally forgotten how scary mom is when she’s angry.”

“Great! Your turn!” Tiffany grinned, still laughing a little bit.

“Andrew,” Alvin raised a brow. Andrew rolled his eyes, not the least bit surprised.

“Dare,” he said, his competitive self wanting to show Alvin that he wasn’t any more of a coward than he was.

“I dare you to call one of your coworkers and give them a whole monologue about how much you love them,” Alvin said, then adding as an after thought: “And you have to let Steven post it on Instagram.”

Glaring at the eldest of the Lim siblings, Andrew found his phone and handed it to Steven, telling him that he could choose anyone he wanted. Steven grinned at him, muttering an “oh, man, this is gonna be good!” before handing it back. Andrew groaned as he saw who Steven chose, and pressed call, putting it on speaker. He noticed Steven filming him, and he flipped him off.

“Hello?” his coworker picked up, sounding very much confused.

“Eugene! Hi! I, just, uh, I’ve been thinking a lot lately, and you know, been watching your videos, and I’ve come to the conclusion that I love you? I mean, you’re so handsome, your hair is always great, and your style makes me weak at the knees, you know? I just really love you, dude.”

What followed was a couple of moments filled with awkward silence, and everyone in the room struggled not to laugh and reveal anything.

“Well, thank you, I guess? Are you drunk?”

“I love your eyes, and your smile, and your laugh, and I don’t know, the fact that we’re kindred dry spirits together. I just really like you, you’re very handsome,” Andrew continued, even though he didn’t know what else to say. “Oh, and yeah.”

“Uhm, I think you’re handsome too, but I’ve already told you that,” Eugene chuckled awkwardly. “Please drink responsibly, though. Have some water.”

“Oh, yeah, you did! Didn’t you tell me I had a good body?”

“If I remember correctly, then yeah,” the slightly older man told him, and Andrew smiled at the memory. Eugene Lee Yang had complimented his body.

“Yeah, okay, that’s enough,” Steven sighed, reaching over to hang up Andrew’s phone. “Bye, Eugene!”

“I didn’t even get to tell him that this was a dare!” Andrew whined, and Steven rolled his eyes.

“Could barely fit it on Insta as it is, relax, I’ll caption it or something,” he muttered, and Andrew shrugged before wrapping an arm around his shoulders. At first, Steven tensed up a bit, but it didn’t take long before he relaxed.

“I choose you, by the way,” Andrew told him, and after posting the video, Steven nodded and looked at him with a slight smile, leaning into the contact.

“Truth,” he said, and Andrew bit his lip.

“How many girlfriends have you had while filming worth-it?” he asked, trying to find out if Steven was bi, or if he was gay.

“I’ve been in two relationships,” Steven said, obviously avoiding gender-terms.

“That wasn’t the question,” Andrew told him, even though he knew it was a bit of an asshole move. He noticed Alvin glare at him, but he ignored it.

“None,” Steven admitted. “Did you know?”

“Your mom accidentally outed you,” Andrew shrugged. “You know I don’t care, right?”

“Yeah, I know,” the younger of the two smiled, before he chose Tiffany. Tiffany had to tell them how old she was when she had her first kiss, and then she chose Steven, who was dared to rank his top five most handsome co-workers. However, he’d rather take the shot, so Andrew, Tiffany and Alvin went downstairs to mix some stuff in a shot glass.

They brought the mixture of soy sauce, hot sauce, ketchup and pickle brine up to Steven, grinning as he had to down it. Andrew would rather hear the ranking, though. Did Steven find him handsome? Was he in his top five?

“Andrew,” Steven said. “Truth or dare.”

“Dare,” Andrew smiled, and Steven seemed to be thinking for a while.

“Okay,” Steven looked a bit nervous when he spoke up. “I dare you to spin a bottle, and then kiss whoever the bottle points to.”

“Sure,” Andrew shrugged and moved his arm away from where it was resting on Steven’s waist to reach for an empty bottle. The three siblings spread out a bit more, and Andrew span the bottle. Andrew had his eyes closed as it span, not opening it until he heard the bottle slow down.

It landed on Steven, and Andrew shut his eyes tight and bit the inside of his cheeks. Kissing Steven could possibly ruin their friendship. However, when he opened them again, Andrew noticed that the bottle had spun a bit further, and it was now pointing to Alvin.

Alvin grinned, winked at him and waved him over with a laugh. “Come here, lover boy,” he said cheekily, and Andrew rolled his eyes before moving over. He sat down in his lap, making Alvin laugh even more, and then started laughing himself. This was ridiculous. When they had calmed down from their laughter, Alvin leaned in, and Andrew met him halfway, kissing him quickly. It was just a quick, chaste kiss, and Andrew laughed as he went back to his seat next to Steven.

“That was my first kiss with a dude,” Alvin laughed, and Andrew nodded, chuckling.

“Mine too,” he admitted, and he noticed how Steven tensed up next to him. Andrew put his arm around him again, before choosing Alvin.

“Truth,” Alvin said, and Andrew smirked.

“On a scale of one to ten, how good of a kisser am I?” he asked, mostly as a joke, but Alvin shrugged.

“A solid eight,” he winked at him again. “Would have been more if you were a girl, dude, the beard threw me off a bit.”

Andrew laughed and nodded, pulling his best friend closer to him as he laughed. He noticed Steven’s head falling down on his shoulder, and Andrew smiled to himself. They continued playing for a while, and Andrew got to know that Steven’s first boyfriend was his former roommate, which honestly shocked him more than he would ever admit to his friend.

It was nearly 3 am when they decided to go to bed, all of them way too drunk to function properly. Andrew and Steven brushed their teeth together before stripping down and going to bed, not even hesitating to get into bed in only their underwear.

“Andrew?” Steven muttered, and Andrew just let out a slight humming sound as to acknowledge that he had heard him. He was too drunk and tired to form any actual words. “Can we cuddle?”

Again, Andrew did not reply, but he turned around so that his back was facing Steven and lifted up his blanket as an invite for Steven to spoon him if he really wanted to. It didn’t take long before he could feel Steven’s bare chest press up against his naked back, and he shuddered as he got pulled into a tight embrace. Why did this feel so good?

Just as Andrew was about to fall asleep, he thought he heard Steven mutter an “I love you”, but he was in no way sure.

When Andrew woke up the next morning it was with a killer head-ache and little to no recollection of the previous night. He frowned as he noticed that he and Steven were spooning, and he grimaced as he worked his way out of his grip. God, why did he drink so much? He let out a soft groan and checked the time. 9 am. He could definitely go back to sleep if he wanted to, but he’d actually rather have some water and some coffee.

Fifteen minutes later, he was on his way downstairs. He greeted mama Lim, made himself a cup of coffee, and then sat down by the kitchen table. Mama Lim handed him some painkillers, and he smiled up at her gratefully. “Thank you,” he muttered. “Sorry.”

“No worries, not first hangover in this house,” she laughed. “Pancakes?”

“Yes, please,” Andrew groaned. Pancakes sounded delicious, and he was so hungry.

“I’m going to bake today, if you want to bake with me?” she asked him as she handed him a plate, and Andrew raised his brows. Of course he wanted that.

“Of course! Like, now, or in a couple of hours? After dinner?” he asked, taking a bite of the pancakes. He let out a soft moan, because damn, they tasted good.

“After the kids and papa Lim wake up, they need to make breakfast first,” she sighed, smiling at him. “Are pancakes okay?”

“They’re amazing,” he admitted. “Could I have the recipe?”

“Yes, of course! You cook a lot of food too? Not just taste?” she asked him, and he shrugged.

“I’m no chef, but I do cook quite a bit. I’m one of the tasty producers, so I kind of have to cook,” he chuckled. “I mean, I like cooking food, and it usually tastes pretty decent, so why shouldn’t I cook?”

“Oh, not like Steven, then. He almost burns down kitchen! Makes complete mess!” Mama Lim laughed, and Andrew joined her. Yes, he was perfectly aware of that, after the two of them had tried to make ice cream this summer. It was literally three ingredients, and Steven had somehow managed to fuck it up completely.

“He has eaten at my house almost every day for the past two months,” Andrew smiled at her. “Just because he’s trying to improve his diet, and he doesn’t want to cook.”

“Sounds like Steven,” she smiled at him. “You know, he almost hasn’t changed since high school.”

“Oh?” he looked at her curiously, and she smiled at her.

“He still tells awful jokes; I’ve seen that on your show, he’s still very loud and quiet at the same time, still much smarter than everyone thinks he is, and he’s kept his kindness and faith. Only difference is he has, you know, uh, filters,” she chuckled. “He would say the weirdest things.”

“Yeah, he still does sometimes,” Andrew smiled, chuckling a bit. “He’s one of the few people who always knows how to make me smile, though. I admit that I always underestimate him. I forget how strong, smart and hard-working he is sometimes.”

“No, you don’t,” she shook her head. “Steven doesn’t show it. He works very hard to get people to like him, and he dumbs himself down, I think?”

“Yeah, probably,” Andrew sighed.

They talked a bit more about how Steven was when he was younger, and Andrew listened to her with a constant smile on his face. He loved getting to know more about his best friend, and who knew Steven better than his own mum? Nobody.

He sat there for almost two hours before going back upstairs. He was pleasantly surprised to see Steven awake, obviously just gotten out of the shower.

“Hey,” Andrew smiled, and Steven smiled back at him with a quick “hi”.

“Hungover?” he asked the younger of the two, receiving a nod in return. Andrew laughed quietly, lying down on the bed and scrolling through Instagram. Even if he wasn’t active, he still used it to stalk people. He frowned as he saw that Steven had published something on Instastory from the previous night, and he paled as he recalled his phone call with Eugene. Oh, God. Andrew had actually done that. Well, he was not going to watch that video just yet.

“I almost don’t remember anything from last night,” Steven told Andrew, and Andrew had to withhold a chuckle at the sight of him. He looked like an outright mess, even though he knew that he wouldn’t look any better.

“Neither do I, except for my phone call with Eugene and my kiss with Alvin,” Andrew sighed. “It was fun, though.”

“Yeah, really fun,” Steven muttered, although Andrew wasn’t completely convinced that Steven meant those words.

“Anyway, I’m going to cook with your mom later, do you have a shirt I can borrow? She told me that you don’t have any extra aprons, and I only packed my good shirts,” the blond looked over at his best friend, who was a bit busy getting dressed.

“Sure. Second to top drawer, grab a white or black t-shirt or something,” Steven nodded. “I’m going to get some breakfast, be right back.”

With that, Steven left his room, and Andrew decided to take this chance to snoop a bit around. He wanted to know what Steven hid in his room, and well, it couldn’t hurt too bad. It wasn’t as if he were going to find sex toys or anything. Like, come on, it’s Steven.

Careful to see if he’d closed the door, he walked over to the drawers where Steven said to find a shirt. According to the other man, the shirts were in the second top drawer, so Andrew, of course, opened the top drawer.

The first thing he saw was Steven’s yearbook, and he picked it up, unable to stop himself. He flickered through the pages until he saw Steven’s photo, and he couldn’t help but grin at how cute he looked. He looked too young to be a senior, but he knew for a fact that that was indeed Steven’s senior photos. Curious as to see who his friends were, Andrew went to the very back pages of the yearbook, where they were supposed to gather signatures.

Steven’s “friends’ pages” were remarkably empty. Out of four pages, only one had been used, and it was occupied by only two signatures. To make matters even worse, Andrew could recognize one of the signatures as Tiffany’s, and the other seemed to be a teacher. Feeling very awkward after finding out exactly how unpopular Steven had been in school, he placed the book back. God, he was almost getting angry.

Frowning slightly as he kept looking through the drawer, he noticed a box filled with what at first seemed to be a bunch of junk. Let’s be real, with the amount of receipts and silly stuff in there, it probably should have been a bunch of junk.

However, Andrew was one of two people who understood that it wasn’t. This was all stuff from filming Worth It, but also other trips and moments he and Steven had shared throughout the years. He smiled softly to himself as he started going through it. There were receipts, an ugly bracelet that Andrew had won during a fair that summer and given to Steven as a joke, small souvenirs, an ice cream spoon, and tons of memories.

What surprised Andrew the most, though, was the photos at the very bottom of the box. They were all of him, or him and Steven, and he had never seen any of them before. Admittedly, he did look kinda good in some of those, but when and how were they taken? Was Steven sneak-photographing him? Probably, yeah, but Andrew didn’t really mind.

He stood there with the photos in his hands for what probably was an embarrassingly long amount of time, just staring at them fondly. Andrew felt this weird feeling in his chest, almost as if his ribs were tightening around his lungs, and his heart getting squeezed. Shaking his head, he was careful to put everything back to where it used to be. He had seen enough, he couldn’t keep invading Steven’s privacy like that.

The other man would probably return soon, too, he realized. So he quickly found a t-shirt, and was in the middle of taking his own off when Steven returned. Andrew blushed a little bit and put on Steven’s. It smelled a bit like him too, and Andrew smiled to himself, hopefully not noticed by Steven.

“I thought we would wear the same shirt size,” Andrew told him, noticing how the shirt seemed to be a bit tight on him. “You wear medium, right?”

“Yeah, but in some clothes I wear large or small, depends on how they are sewn. I’m longer than you, but also slimmer,” he shrugged, smiling at Andrew. Andrew nodded. That made sense.

“I’ll probably spend the day in Tiffany or Alvin’s room, alright? If you’re baking with my mom, I suspect you’ll be gone the entire day,” Steven chuckled slightly, and Andrew hummed. Probably, yes, if they were actually going to bake everything mama Lim told him they were baking.

He had no idea why, but suddenly, Steven had his arms wrapped around him, hugging him tight. Andrew hugged him back, burying his face in the crook of his neck, while Steven seemingly buried his face in his hair. It was a very intimate hug, and none of them dared to say a word, as if it would ruin the moment.

“I’m glad you came with me,” Steven muttered eventually, and Andrew nodded as he made a sound of agreement. He wouldn’t have thought that he would enjoy this as much as he did, but he was actually very happy that Steven had invited him there.

Baking with Mama Lim did in fact occupy the entire day, and as much fun he had with her, he almost missed Steven a bit. They had baked two pies, about 100 cookies and 50 or so gingerbread men, and they still weren’t done after eight hours. It was nice, though. It provided Andrew with a distraction he hadn’t known he needed.

He and mama Lim got along great, too, talking about everything and anything. Andrew told her about the texts from June, which lead to her talking about how he should call her, but not until he was ready. He didn’t owe her anything, just because he had agreed that they could maybe get together again eventually.

“How was Steven’s boyfriend?” Andrew asked, as he still didn’t know much about Steven’s most recent relationship, and he was quite curious if he knew who it was.

“His name was Danny, he work at BuzzFeed too,” she told him, continuing with what she was doing. “Very nice man, very much like Steven, but bad boy version, you know? Talk a lot, smile a lot, but he smoke and drink too much. He cared a lot about Steven, but he didn’t love him. He was annoyed with him, and my son doesn’t deserve a man like that. He deserve a man like you.”

Andrew blushed at the compliment, and Tiffany’s words from the last morning ran through his head. ‘If she likes you, she’ll want to keep you around.’ Were they hoping that he and Steven would get together? Because Andrew was straight, and although he loved being with Steven, getting together with him would create a mess. And what if they broke up? Their friendship would be ruined forever.

“I don’t think I know who it is,” Andrew admitted. “But yeah, he does deserve better than that. I don’t think I’m the one he’s looking for though.”

“Maybe, maybe not,” mama Lim shrugged. “Time will show, Andrew.”

Steven walked into the kitchen, sighing at them. “Can I get my friend back soon, mom? Like, as if it wasn’t enough that the two of you are baking without me, you’re stealing him away from me too!”

“Well, you make mess and eat all the dough! Andrew only eat a little dough, and he is tidy!” Gina laughed, making the two boys laugh as well. She nodded and motioned for them to leave.

“It was nice baking with you mama Lim,” Andrew smiled at her. “Please tell me if you want any more company while cooking.”

“I will!”

With that, Steven and Andrew went upstairs to Steven’s room.

“Your mom is the best,” Andrew told Steven with a grin. “She taught me so much, I think I might have a crush on her.”

He let out a loud laugh to let Steven know that he was joking, but Steven pretended to gag and faint at the same time anyway.

“Don’t ruin my parents’ marriage, thanks,” Steven chuckled. “Also, imagine if you were my step-dad? Too weird, man.”

“Oh no, forget it, crush gone,” Andrew grinned at him, throwing himself on the bed. Steven protested weakly due to the flour staining the t-shirt, but he realized quickly that Andrew wouldn’t move. He rolled his eyes at him and found another shirt for him instead, throwing it over to him together with a pair of sweatpants.

“You can’t wear jeans in bed, come on,” Steven grinned at him, and Andrew looked at Steven’s clothes for the first time.

“That’s the hoodie I left at your place over a year ago!” Andrew chuckled. “I was wondering where that was, because I never saw it at your place.”

Steven blushed and shushed him before joining him in bed. Andrew grinned and changed his pants, looking over at him when he was done.

“Movie?” they said at the same time, letting out childish giggles as Steven followed it up with a ‘jinx’.

“You can honestly just choose again, my brain is dead from baking all day,” Andrew chuckled at him, finding his phone to watch that video of him last night while Steven found a movie. He cringed at the sight of his drunk self calling Eugene, and he realized that he really should text him just to clarify that it was a dare, even though Steven had written that on his Instastory too.

To: Eugene Lee Yang [7:03pm]  
Hey, I don’t know if you’ve seen Steven’s Instastory, but it was just a dare. I wouldn’t call you out of the blue just to tell you all that.

“Hey, would you mind if maybe we watched a show instead? I’ve wanted to watch Black Mirror for a while, but I didn’t want to watch it alone,” Steven looked at him. Andrew put his phone away and shrugged. If Steven wanted to do that instead, he was fine with it.

After four episodes of Black Mirror, Steven had freaked out at least twenty times, they had eaten two bowls of popcorn, cuddled in all kinds of different positions, and Andrew had managed to panic twice about not receiving any replies from Eugene. It was Eugene, he always had his phone with him, and now it had been four hours. Was he ignoring him? Had he creeped him out that much?

Right after they had finished the first episode of season 2, Tiffany knocked on the door before walking inside and asking if they wanted to watch the Pitch Perfect movies with her. Steven grinned and got up excitedly, while Andrew hesitated.

“You know what, I’m exhausted, I’ll stay here,” he said, and he noticed Steven’s torn expression. “Just go with her, Steven, and don’t be afraid you’ll wake me up, I’m a heavy sleeper.”

“Okay, good night, Andrew,” Steven walked back to the bed to give him a hug, grinning as they embraced each other.

“Night, Steven,” he smiled at him, waiting for him to leave the room before finding his own laptop, putting on some old episodes of Friends in the background while browsing on his phone. Feeling anxious about the whole Eugene ordeal, he decided to text him once more just in case.

**To: Eugene Lee Yang [11:05pm]**  
**I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable, or if I overstepped. I was very drunk, and I would never actually do that. Sorry.**

He tried to go to sleep, but couldn’t, so he decided to keep watching Friends instead. It took another five episodes before Andrew’s phone vibrated, and he was relieved to find a reply from Eugene.

**From: Eugene Lee Yang [1:02am]**  
**Don’t worry, man, it’s fine! It was actually kind of nice.**

**To: Eugene Lee Yang [1:04am]**  
**I didn’t even remember most of the stuff I said until I saw Steven’s Instastory**

**From: Eugene Lee Yang [1:04am]**  
**Yeah, you were a bit drunk. We should talk again sometime when you’re sober.**

**To: Eugene Lee Yang [1:04am]**  
**Really?**

**From: Eugene Lee Yang [1:05am]**  
**Yeah, if you want to.**

**To: Eugene Lee Yang [1:05am]**  
**Sure, we don’t talk that much anyway. How’s LA? And work?**

**From: Eugene Lee Yang [1:06am]**  
**Almost everyone have gone away for the holidays. It’s basically just me, the Unsolved guys, Sara, Ned and Kristen left. How’s Ohio? (I’m assuming you’re there, since you’re with Steven)**

**To: Eugene Lee Yang [1:07am]**  
**Painfully average. It’s very… Midwest.**

**From: Eugene Lee Yang [1:07am]**  
**I can imagine! What have you been up to?**

**To: Eugene Lee Yang [1:08am]**  
**Netflix, Netflix and Netflix? Oh, and calling my coworkers and declaring my love for them. As well as baking with Steven’s mom.**

**From: Eugene Lee Yang [1:09am]**  
**Baking with Steven’s mom? Sounds fun**

**To: Eugene Lee Yang [1:11am]**  
**Shut up, I enjoy baking.**

**From: Eugene Lee Yang [1:12am]**  
**Sorry!**

**From: Eugene Lee Yang [1:12am]**  
**Btw: I was wondering if you meant anything of what you told me last night.**

**To: Eugene Lee Yang [1:13am]**  
**I guess, why?**

**From: Eugene Lee Yang [1:13am]**  
**Because if not, flirting with you would be very awkward.**

Andrew’s eyes widened as he read what Eugene just wrote. Flirting? With him? Why would he flirt with him? Oh. Right. Eugene was bisexual, and quite fond of flirting. Andrew hesitated with the answer, before he realized something; he wouldn’t mind flirting with Eugene at all.

Oh, fuck. Andrew was bisexual, wasn’t he?

**To: Eugene Lee Yang [1:14am]**  
**Oh. Then flirt all you want.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! I appreciate all feedback, and if you have a prompt or want to talk to me, come find me on Tumblr! @stanningstandrewfics

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Follow me on my tumblr: @Stanningstandrewfics


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